Nikon D850 Owner's manual

Professional

En

Technical Guide

— Useful Features —

2

Table of Contents

Live View: Pinpoint AF ........................................................ 4

Focus Stacking (Focus Shift Photography) .................... 8

• “Focus Shift Shooting” ..................................................................10

• Before Shooting .............................................................................12

• Focus Shift Photography ..............................................................13

• Suggested Settings .......................................................................16

• Choosing the Number of Shots ..................................................18

• Focus Shift: Tips ..............................................................................21

• Before Stacking ..............................................................................22

• Some Examples of Focus Stacking ............................................23

White Balance Tips and Tricks ......................................... 25

• White Balance Options .................................................................25

• Auto White Balance for Incandescent Lighting ......................27

• Natural Light Auto .........................................................................28

• Color Temperature Information .................................................29

• Measuring Preset Manual White Balance ................................30

Digitizing 35mm Film ...................................................... 32

• What You’ll Need ............................................................................33

• Handling Film .................................................................................36

• Digitizing Negatives ......................................................................36

• Digitizing Positives (Slides) .........................................................39

• Retouching Digitized Photos ......................................................41

3

Muing the Shutter ......................................................... 44

• “Quiet” Versus “Silent” ...................................................................44

• Quiet Shutter-Release Mode .......................................................45

• Silent Photography .......................................................................46

• Movie Stills ......................................................................................47

Focus Peaking .................................................................... 48

Cropping and Zoom ......................................................... 49

On-Camera Batch NEF (RAW) Processing ..................... 50

• The Beneﬁts of On-Camera Processing ....................................50

• On-Camera NEF (RAW) Processing ............................................51

Auto AF Fine-Tuning ......................................................... 56

Unavailable Menu Options .............................................59

• The Photo Shooting Menu ..........................................................59

• The i-Button Menu (Live View Photography) ........................60

4

Live View: Pinpoint AF

The D850’s live view features a new pinpoint AF-area mode

for more precise focus than ever before.

Pinpoint AF: The camera

focuses precisely on

the intended point

(in this case, the sta-

mens).

Intended focus point (enlarged)

Normal-area AF: The wider

focus area may result in

the camera not focus-

ing on the intended

point.

Intended focus point (enlarged)

5

Follow the steps below to take pictures using pinpoint AF.

Before proceeding, we recommend that you mount the

camera on a tripod and select single-servo autofocus (AF-S).

1

Start live view.

Pinpoint AF is available in live

view only. Press the a button

to start live view.

2

Select 3.

Keeping the AF-mode button pressed, rotate the sub-

command dial until 3 (pinpoint AF) appears in the

display.

6

3

Position the focus point.

Use the multi selector or touch

controls to position the focus

point, or press the center of

the multi selector to return the

focus point to the center of the

frame.

4

Zoom in.

For greater accuracy, press the

X button to zoom in on the se-

lected focus point.

5

Take the picture.

Although you can take pictures using the shutter-re-

lease button, to prevent blur caused by camera shake

we recommend that you use the remote photography

feature in the SnapBridge app or an optional accesso-

ry such as a wireless remote controller or remote cord.

7

Live View: Pinpoint AF

Touch Controls

When using touch controls to position

the focus point, note that at default

settings, the shutter will be released

when you lift your nger from the dis‑

play (“touch shutter”); for more accu‑

rate focus, tap the touch shutter icon

to turn the touch shutter o (X).

8

“Focus stacking” combines photos shot at dierent focus

positions into a single image with increased depth of eld.

The D850’s new focus shift feature, which automatically

varies focus over a series of shots, is used to take photos

that will later be combined using focus stacking.

Normal photograph Focus-stacked image

(for camera settings, see page 23)

Normal photograph Focus-stacked image

(for camera settings, see page 24)

Focus Stacking (Focus Shift Photography)

9

When shooting is complete, you can copy the photos to

a computer and use third-party focus-stacking software

to combine the areas that are in focus into a single image.

The camera takes a se-

ries of shots (150 in this

example), which are

used to create a com-

posite image contain-

ing only the areas that

are in focus.

Focus-Stacking Software

The following applications support focus stacking. Note that

Nikon neither endorses this software nor guarantees its op-

eration.

• Adobe: Photoshop CC

• Helicon Soft: Helicon Focus

• Zerene Systems: Zerene Stacker

10

“Focus Shift Shooting”

The Focus shift shooting item in

the photo shooting menu is used to

adjust settings for focus shift pho-

tography. The following options are

available:

• Start: Start shooting. The camera will

change the focus distance by the

selected amount with each shot.

• No. of shots: Choose the number of shots (up to 300) that

you will need when performing focus stacking.

• Focus step width: Choose the amount the focus distance

changes with each shot. The options available range

from 1 to 10: choose lower values for smaller steps, high-

er values for larger steps.

• Interval until next shot: The time between shots, in seconds.

Select 00 to take photos at approximately 5fps (release

modes S, Cl, Ch, and Mup) or 3fps (release modes Q and QC).

• Exposure smoothing: If On is selected, the camera will adjust

the exposure for each new shot to match the immedi-

ately preceding shot.

• Silent photography: Select On to silence the shutter during

shooting.

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11

Focus Stacking (Focus Shift Photography)

• Starting storage folder: Highlight options and press 2 to

select or deselect. Choose New folder to create a new

folder for each new focus shift sequence, Reset le num-

bering to reset le numbering to 0001 when a new folder

is created.

12

Before Shooting

Use an AF-S or AF-P lens. After mounting the appropriate

lens, choose an exposure mode of A or M so that aperture

does not change during shooting (recommended). Once

settings have been adjusted to your satisfaction, close the

viewnder eyepiece shutter to prevent light entering via

the viewnder interfering with photographs and expo-

sure.

Before shooting begins, mount the camera on a tripod,

disable lens vibration reduction (VR), and select a release

mode other than E. To ensure that shooting is not inter-

rupted, be sure the camera battery is fully charged. If in

doubt, charge the battery before use or use an AC adapter

and power connector (available separately).

Focus shift is available at all image quality settings. Note

that focus shift is unavailable in some situations, includ-

ing when multiple exposure or HDR shooting is in prog-

ress, the camera clock is not set, an incompatible lens is

attached, or no memory card is inserted.

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13

Focus Stacking (Focus Shift Photography)

Focus Shift Photography

Follow the steps below to take photographs using focus

shift.

1

Rotate the focus-mode selector to AF.

Focus shift is not available

with manual focus lenses.

2

Focus.

The camera takes a series of shots starting from a se-

lected focus position and continuing toward innity.

The starting focus position should be slightly in front

of the closest point on the subject. Do not move the

camera after focusing.

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14

3

Select Focus shift shooting.

In the photo shooting menu,

highlight Focus shift shooting

and press 2 to display focus

shift options.

4

Adjust settings.

Adjust settings as described on

“Focus Shift Shooting” (page 10).

For more information, see “Sug-

gested Settings” (page 16).

15

Focus Stacking (Focus Shift Photography)

5

Start shooting.

Highlight Start and press J.

Shooting starts after about 3s.

The camera takes photographs

at the selected interval, begin-

ning at the focus distance se-

lected at the start of shooting

and progressing out toward innity by the selected

focus step distance with each shot. Shooting ends

when the selected number of shots has been taken or

focus reaches innity. To end shooting before all shots

have been taken, select O for Focus shift shooting in

the photo shooting menu or wait until the camera is

between shots and then press J or press the shutter-

release button halfway.

During Shooting

During focus shift photography, the

Q icon will ash in the control pan‑

el. Immediately before the next shot,

the shutter speed display will show

the number of shots remaining.

16

Suggested Settings

For focus shift photography, we recommend that settings

be adjusted as described below.

Aperture

For improved contrast out to the edges of the frame, we

generally recommend an aperture 2 to 3 stops from the

maximum for the lens.

ISO Sensitivity

We recommend that you select O for ISO sensitivity set-

tings > Auto ISO sensitivity control and do not change

ISO sensitivity while shooting is in progress.

Focus Shift Settings

No. of shots: You may need over a 100 shots for a close-up

or an insect or other small object, while only a few are

required when photographing a landscape from front to

back with a wide-angle lens. We recommend taking more

shots than you think you’ll need and winnowing them

down during focus stacking. See “Choosing the Number

of Shots” (page 18).

Focus step width: A value of 5 or less is recommended, as

higher settings increase the risk that some areas will be out

of focus when the photos are stacked (page 21). Try experi-

menting with dierent settings before shooting.

Interval until next shot: 00 is recommended unless you are

using a ash, in which case the interval needs to be long

enough for the ash to charge.

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17

Focus Stacking (Focus Shift Photography)

Exposure smoothing: O is recommended if lighting and other

conditions will not change during shooting, On when pho-

tographing landscapes and the like under variable lighting.

Silent photography: Choosing On (recommended) limits cam-

era shake and reduces power consumption and wear on

the shutter. Choose O to prevent icker when shooting

under uorescent or mercury-vapor lighting (if icker per-

sists, enable Flicker reduction in the photo shooting menu

or choose a shutter speed adapted to the frequency of the

local power supply: ¹⁄₁₂₅s, ¹⁄₆₀s, or ¹⁄₃₀s for 60 Hz; ¹⁄₁₀₀s, ¹⁄₅₀s,

or ½₅s for 50 Hz).

Starting storage folder: We recommend that you select both

New folder and Reset le numbering. Each sequence of

photos will be numbered from 0001 and stored in its own

folder, which you may nd helpful when copying the im-

ages to a computer.

18

Choosing the Number of Shots

The recommended number of shots varies with the lens,

aperture, subject size, focus step width, and the distance

to the subject, measured from the closest point on the

subject to the focal plane mark (E) on the camera body.

The gures given on pages 19 to 20 assume that the camera

and subject are positioned as shown below.

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Distance to subject

Subject size

22

If the subject moves during shooting (for example, be-

cause you are shooting outdoors), focus stacking may not

produce the desired results.

Zooming in on the petals reveals that they have been stacked in over-

lapping positions, giving the eﬀect of a multiple exposure.

Before Stacking

Delete any photos not in the desired focus range before

stacking.

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23

Focus Stacking (Focus Shift Photography)

Some Examples of Focus Stacking

Here are some sample images, together with the gear and

settings used to create them.

Lens AF‑S Micro NIKKOR 60 mm f/2.8G ED

Distance to subject 20cm/8 in. Focus step width 3

Subject size 5cm/2in. Interval until next shot 0

Aperture f/5.6 Exposure smoothing On

Shots taken/used

*

160/150 Silent photography On

* The total number of shots taken/the number of shots actually used

for focus stacking.

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Nikon D850 Owner's manual

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